E3 2007: Front Mission Hands-on

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Square-Enix dusts off its mechs and prepares for heavy metal on DS.

By Alex Simmons

Despite being one of the smaller franchises in the Square-Enix stable, the Front Mission series has enjoyed a devoted fan-base that has remained loyal over the past decade or so. It's loyalty that has paid off too, because what promises to be the best Front Mission game in a long time is making its way to the Nintendo DS. Indeed, during our hands-on time with the game we were impressed with Square's robo-strategy game, because it mixes up elements of Advance Wars with the more familiar levelling-up gameplay of previous Front Mission games.

There are two campaign modes to tuck into - one is aimed at novice players while a second is designed specifically for those who've clocked the first story mode or anyone already familiar with the series. Siding with either the OCU army or UCS military (depending on campaign you choose), the action takes place on a 3D-isometic, grid-based battlefield, displayed on the bottom touchscreen. At the beginning of the fight your squad of battlebots is deployed and your opponent positions their units at the opposite end of the battlefield. The skirmish then begins, with the action divided into turns.

Front Mission is a lot more stat-heavy compared to Advance Wars.

As a mech pilot you have a number of options open to you at the start of a turn, such as move, use an item or, if an enemy unit is within range, begin an attack. Moving is simply a case of picking the space you want to move to, either using the D-pad and buttons or with a quick tap of the stylus. Carrying out an attack is executed in the same way, although obviously you must click on a target and select the weapon you want to fire.

It's as intuitive and quick to pick up as Advance Wars. Visually there are similarities between the two too, because close-ups of the action flash up on the top screen during a firefight. Having said that, stylistically they're polar opposites - Front Mission's drab industrial graphics are in stark contrast to Wars' bold approach, but there's no ignoring the similarities when you're playing through the game.

However, there are a lot more layers to the gameplay in Front Mission, with a countless factors to bear in mind during a battle. Take your mech for example - it's comprised of different body parts that can be individually damaged. So if your right arm takes a beating during a heavy onslaught, any weapon mounted on the limb will be destroyed. Similarly, movement is restricted if your legs take a hammering, so you need to keep a constant eye on the status of your units.

Thankfully, items such as repair kits enable you to patch up your mech on the battlefield and using one is simply a case of picking it from the inventory. However, fixing a limb or patching up the main body of the robot takes time and doing so forfeits your go, leaving your mech open to attack if you repair within range of the enemy.

Success on the battlefield requires a fine balance of attack and defence then. Learning which weapons work against certain targets is essential, especially because many of the mechs are kitted out with a handful of different machineguns, powerful rifles and rocket launchers. Offensive weapons can be devastating when you're being ambushed too, providing you employ the correct tactics to strike a counterattack. Alternatively you can attempt to evade or shield their attack.

Like all RPGs the success of your attack depends on a number of factors - the skill of your pilot versus that of the enemy, the state of your mech, the cover provided by the area you're fighting on and so on - but it's never so complicated that you're struggling with the controls. The same applies to the levelling-up - with every turn your experience builds, progressing your pilot's skills automatically. It's simple but it works.

He's going to make a stand with his wanzer. Be afraid.

In fact from the relatively short time we had with Front Mission we were impressed by how easy it was to get to grips with. Even if you have no previous experience with the series you'll be ordering your mech crews around within minutes thanks to intuitive controls, whether you're using the D-pad and buttons or the stylus.

Our only criticism so far is that the battlefield can get a bit overcrowded, with some of the scenery getting in the way of the action. The option to cycle through friendly and enemy units using the shoulder buttons makes the task of managing your army easier but there are still times when an enemy units sneaks under the radar, leaving you open to attack from a direction you thought was covered. Still, it's likely this will prove less of a problem with practice.

We're pleased to see Front Mission has returned then. The control system works well on the DS and visually it stands up to the high precedent Square has already set on the handheld. We're looking forward to playing through more of the game to get a proper sense of variety in the missions and also to get an idea of the scale of the battles, but it's certainly promising so far. The ball's in your court, Advance Wars 2.